A socio-political group, the Yagba Progressive Elite, has raised an alarm over what it described as a suspicious and massive surge in voter registration figures across some Oke-Oyi communities in Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The group made its position known in a press statement signed by its spokesperson, Femi Adeleye, and made available to newsmen on Sunday.
According to Adeleye, the alleged inflation was highlighted in a petition recently submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Yagba Federal Constituency, Hon. Seun Ibigbemi.
The statement noted that residents of the local government area are fully aware that Isanlu, the council headquarters, remains the largest community in terms of population, landmass, and commercial activity. It stressed that the 2023 voters register accurately reflected this natural demography, with Isanlu wards recording significantly higher numbers of registered voters than Oke-Oyi wards.
However, the group alleged that the updated voter register has turned that demographic reality upside down through fictitious numbers.
Citing figures from Hon. Ibigbemi’s petition, Adeleye stated that Alu/Igbagun/Oranre Ward 4 alone now boasts 18,439 registered voters, rising sharply from 7,746 recorded in 2023, representing an unusual addition of 10,693 voters. He added that Ife-Olukotun Ward II now records 8,560 registered voters while Ife-Olukotun Ward I stands at 6,388 voters, bringing the total number of voters in the three Oke-Oyi wards to over 33,000.
The group expressed deep concern over how Oke-Oyi, a cluster of smaller agrarian villages, could suddenly record a higher voter population than Isanlu, the administrative center of the local government area.
Adeleye alleged that what transpired, as captured in the petition, is a case of massive fictitious inflation and organized importation of voters from neighboring communities and states, specifically Omuo-Ekiti, Iyamoye, and Kano State. He further alleged that non-residents were transported from Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Iyamoye in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, and Kano State to participate in the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise in the area.
He argued that if left unchecked, the development would disenfranchise genuine indigenous voters in Alu, Igbagun, and Oranre, effectively turning them into minorities and drowning their legitimate votes during elections.
Invoking legal provisions, the group spokesperson cited Sections 12(2), 12(3), and 122(1)(a) & (b) of the Electoral Act 2022, which strictly criminalize multiple registration and registering outside one’s place of residence, work, or origin, carrying statutory penalties of imprisonment and heavy fines for offenders.
Consequently, the Yagba Progressive Elite called on the electoral body to urgently deploy its Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) to clean up the register, conduct a thorough physical residency verification exercise in the affected wards, and liaise with security agencies to investigate and prosecute those sponsoring the illegal voter importation.
The group firmly urged the electoral commission not to deploy the current voter register for the 2026/2027 general elections until a full forensic audit is concluded and the document is thoroughly sanitized.
The statement maintained that Yagba East belongs to the people who reside in its communities, including Isanlu, Ponyan, Alu, Ife-Olukotun, Ijagbe, Makutu, Ejuku, and Ilafin, and not to non-residents imported from outside the constituency.
Adeleye stressed that the petition by Hon. Ibigbemi must be treated as a criminal complaint of electoral fraud supported by concrete figures from the 2026 Yagba East CVR data, demanding immediate administrative and investigative action from the commission.
As of the time of filing this report, official officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were yet to respond to the allegations or the petition.
